TWI710240B - Method for performing bluetooth transmission management, bluetooth circuit, and electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for performing Bluetooth transmission management is provided，comprising: before controlling a BT circuit to transmit a BT packet, obtaining a confirmation signal from a Wi-Fi circuit, wherein the confirmation signal indicates whether the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving a Wi-Fi packet or not; and according to the confirmation signal, determining whether to insert at least one idle BT slots pair before the BT circuit transmits the BT packet.

Description

Method, Bluetooth circuit and electronic equipment for performing Bluetooth transmission management

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and more specifically, to a method for performing Bluetooth transmission management, a Bluetooth circuit, and an electronic device.

Since both Bluetooth (BT) communication and Wi-Fi communication can use the 2.4G industrial, scientific and medical (ISM, Industrial, Scientific and Medical) frequency band to send and receive packets, if the coexistence problem is not properly controlled This leads to a decrease in communication performance. For example, when a multi-function TV receives video data from a Wi-Fi AP through a Wi-Fi module, and at the same time sends audio data to a BT speaker through a BT module, the BT packet may interfere with the transmission of the Wi-Fi packet, such as display Some problems such as poor quality and image lag can greatly reduce the user experience.

The following overview is only illustrative and not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following overview is provided to introduce the concepts, points, benefits, and advantages of the novel and non-obvious technologies described herein. The implementation of the selection is further described in the detailed description below. Therefore, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present invention provides a method for performing Bluetooth transmission management, including: before controlling the Bluetooth circuit to send Bluetooth packets, obtaining a confirmation signal from a Wi-Fi circuit, wherein the confirmation signal indicates whether the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving Wi-Fi Fi packet; and according to the confirmation signal, determining whether to insert at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet.

The present invention provides a Bluetooth circuit, comprising: a controller coupled to a Wi-Fi circuit, wherein: before controlling the Bluetooth circuit to send a Bluetooth packet, the controller in the Bluetooth circuit obtains a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein The confirmation signal indicates whether the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving a Wi-Fi packet; and according to the confirmation signal, the controller determines whether to insert at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet.

The present invention provides an electronic device including: a Wi-Fi circuit for performing Wi-Fi communication; and a Bluetooth circuit coupled to the Wi-Fi circuit for performing Bluetooth communication, wherein the Bluetooth circuit includes: a controller , Coupled to the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein: before controlling the Bluetooth circuit to send Bluetooth packets, the controller obtains a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein the confirmation signal indicates the Wi-Fi circuit Whether a Wi-Fi packet is being received; and according to the confirmation signal, the controller determines whether to insert at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet.

The solution provided by the present invention can insert additional idle BT time slots to prevent BT transmission from interfering with receiving Wi-Fi packets.

Certain words are used in the specification and the scope of the patent application to refer to specific elements. Those skilled in the art should understand that hardware manufacturers may use different terms to refer to the same component. This specification and the scope of patent application do not use differences in names as a way to distinguish elements, but use differences in functions of elements as a criterion. The "include" and "include" mentioned in the entire specification and the scope of the patent application are open-ended terms, so they should be interpreted as "including but not limited to". "Generally" means that within an acceptable error range, those skilled in the art can solve the technical problem within a certain error range, and roughly achieve the technical effect. In addition, the term "coupled" herein includes any direct and indirect electrical connection means. Therefore, if it is described in the text that a first device is coupled to a second device, it means that the first device can be directly electrically connected to the second device, or indirectly electrically connected to the second device through other devices or connecting means.述二装置。 The second device. The following are the preferred ways to implement the present invention. The purpose is to illustrate the spirit of the present invention and not to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention shall be subject to the scope of the attached patent application.

The following description is the best embodiment expected of the present invention. These descriptions are used to illustrate the general principles of the present invention and should not be used to limit the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention should be determined on the basis of referring to the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows a diagram of an electronic device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device 10 may include a BT circuit 120 and a Wi-Fi circuit 140. Examples of the BT circuit 120 may include, but are not limited to: BT circuits complying with the BT basic rate (BR, Basic Rate)/Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) protocol and those complying with the BT Low Energy (BLE, BT Low Energy) protocol BT circuit. The BT circuit 120 may include a BT transceiver 122 and a controller 124, wherein the controller 124 is coupled to the BT transceiver 122, and the BT transceiver 122 may be coupled to at least one BT antenna, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The Wi-Fi circuit 140 may include a Wi-Fi transceiver 142, and the Wi-Fi transceiver 142 may be coupled to at least one Wi-Fi antenna, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the Wi-Fi circuit 140 is coupled to the controller 124 within the BT circuit 120. For example, the BT circuit 120 and the Wi-Fi circuit 140 can be implemented on a separate circuit board, where the Wi-Fi circuit 140 is coupled to the controller 124 in the BT circuit 120 through an external wire; another example is the BT circuit and the Wi-Fi circuit. It may be implemented on a single die (or a single chip), where the Wi-Fi circuit 140 is coupled to the controller 124 (for example, an integrated circuit layout) in the BT circuit 120 through internal connections, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the BT transceiver 122 may include a BT transmitter and a BT receiver (not shown), which are arranged to send BT packets and receive BT packets, respectively, wherein the controller 124 may control the BT transceiver 122 to send BT packets. Packet or receive BT packet. In addition, the Wi-Fi transceiver 142 may include a Wi-Fi transmitter and a Wi-Fi receiver (not shown), which are arranged to send and receive Wi-Fi packets, respectively. According to this embodiment, before controlling the BT circuit 120 (for example, the BT transceiver 122 in the BT circuit 120) to send BT packets, the controller 124 may obtain a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit 140, where the confirmation signal may indicate Wi-Fi Whether the Fi circuit 140 is receiving Wi-Fi packets. According to the confirmation signal, the controller 124 may determine whether to insert at least one idle BT time slot pair before the BT circuit sends the BT packet.

Figure 2 shows that the controller 124 shown in Figure 1 performs BT packets BT_TX1, BT_TX2, BT_TX3, and BT_TX4 (for example, BT conforming to the stereo audio transmission specification (A2DP, Advance Audio Distribution Profile)) according to an embodiment of the present invention. Packet) some details of the BT transmission management performed. After the BT circuit 120 is powered on, a BT communication mechanism (for example, BT communication mechanisms S_BT0, S_BT1, S_BT2, etc.) can be constructed based on the BT time slot (slot), as shown in Figure 2, where each BT packet (for example, each The sent BT packet and each received BT packet) can be aligned with the associated BT time slot. In this embodiment, the BT communication mechanism S_BT0 can represent the initial schedule for sending BT packets BT_TX1, BT_TX2, BT_TX3 and BT_TX4 and receiving confirmation packets (marked as "R") corresponding to these BT packets, and Wi- The Fi communication mechanism S_WF0 may represent an ordinary schedule (ordinary schedule) for receiving Wi-Fi packets WF_RX1 and WF_RX2 and sending confirmation packets (marked as "T") corresponding to these Wi-Fi packets.

As shown in Figure 2 with the BT communication mechanism S_BT0 as an example, the BT circuit 120 shown in Figure 1 initially expects to start sending BT packets BT_TX1 in the third BT time slot, instead of performing BT transmission management on BT packets BT_TX1, which is based on The BT packet BT_TX1 of the BT communication mechanism S_BT0 may interfere with the reception of the Wi-Fi packet WF_RX1. In order to prevent this problem, the controller 120 may insert at least one idle BT time slot pair (for example, one or more idle BT timeslot pairs), for example, two idle BT timeslot pairs (for example, four idle BT timeslots), In order to generate the BT transmission delay period before the BT circuit 120 sends the BT packet BT_TX1, and the BT packet BT_TX2 can be shifted accordingly (from the 9th BT time slot to the 13th BT time slot). As a result, the BT communication mechanism S_BT0 may be adjusted to the BT communication mechanism S_BT1, the controller 124 may allow the BT circuit 120 to start sending the BT packet BT_TX1 in the 7th BT time slot without further delay, and the Wi-Fi packet WF_RX1 may no longer be Interfered by BT.

As shown in the Wi-Fi communication mechanism S_WF0 and BT communication mechanism S_BT1 shown in Figure 2, the BT circuit 120 initially expects to start sending the BT packet BT_TX2 in the 13th BT time slot without performing BT transmission management on the BT packet BT_TX2. Among them, the BT packet BT_TX2 based on the BT communication mechanism S_BT1 may interfere with the reception of the Wi-Fi packet WF_RX1. In this embodiment, the controller 120 needs to further insert 17 free BT time slot pairs (for example, 34 free BT time slots) to completely prevent this problem, but the number of inserted free BT time slots may need to be limited within a specific range (For example, subject to a predetermined upper limit of BT transmission delay). Examples of the maximum number of inserted free BT time slots may include, but are not limited to: 8, 16, or 32 BT time slots. Without limiting the number of idle BT time slots inserted, if the Wi-Fi circuit 140 keeps receiving a certain Wi-Fi packet for a long time, it may be difficult to send a certain BT packet in time, resulting in degraded user experience. For example, the user may Aware of poor audio (sound) effects. In addition, the predetermined upper limit may be defined based on the current mechanism corresponding to the BT packet to be transmitted (for example, the BT communication mechanism S_BT1 of the BT packet BT_TX2), but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, as shown in the BT communication mechanism S_BT2, when the predetermined upper limit is 32 BT time slots, based on the BT communication mechanism S_BT1, the BT packet BT_TX2 can be shifted from the 13th BT time slot to the 45th BT time slot at most ( Instead of the 47th BT time slot), and the controller 124 may allow the BT circuit 120 to start sending the BT packet BT_TX2 from the 45th BT time slot without further delay, but the present invention is not limited to this.

As shown in Figure 2 with Wi-Fi communication mechanism S_WF0 and BT communication mechanism S_BT2. When the BT circuit 120 expects to start sending the BT packets BT_TX3 and BT_TX4, the Wi-Fi circuit 140 does not receive any Wi-Fi packets, so the controller 124 may allow the BT circuit 120 to send the BT packets BT_TX3 and BT_TX4 normally. For example, start sending BT packets BT_TX3 and BT_TX4 in their current BT time slots respectively.

Please note that coexistence problems may occur when the BT circuit 120 starts to send BT packets while the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving Wi-Fi packets. For example, the BT packet BT_TX2 shown in the BT communication mechanism S_BT1 may interfere with the Wi-Fi communication mechanism S_WF0 The Wi-Fi packet shown in WF_RX2. However, the BT packet BT_TX1 shown in the BT communication mechanism S_BT1 may not interfere with the Wi-Fi packet WF_RX2 shown in the Wi-Fi communication mechanism S_WF0. Before the Wi-Fi circuit 140 starts to receive the Wi-Fi packet WF_RX2, BT communication may be detected (for example, a BT packet transmitted in the air), where some configurations of the Wi-Fi transceiver 122, such as filter type and receiver The gain can be set in response to the situation to prevent related interference, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 at the same time. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method for performing BT transmission management according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the controller 124 performs transmission management on the BT circuit 120 before controlling the BT circuit 120 to send a BT packet (for example, a BT packet BT_TX(x), such as one of the BT packets shown in Figure 2). , To perform transmission management on the BT packet to be sent by the BT transceiver 122) in order to reduce the throughput degradation of the Wi-Fi receiver in the Wi-Fi transceiver 142 due to BT interference.

In step 310, the controller 124 may obtain a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit 140. For example, when the Wi-Fi circuit 140 is receiving at least one Wi-Fi packet (for example, any one of the Wi-Fi packets WF_RX1 and WF_RX2 shown in Figure 2), the Wi-Fi circuit 140 may first confirm A signal (for example, a logic high signal) is sent to the controller 124, and the first confirmation signal may indicate that the Wi-Fi circuit 140 is receiving a Wi-Fi packet. For another example, when the Wi-Fi circuit 140 does not receive any Wi-Fi packets, the Wi-Fi circuit 140 may send a second confirmation signal (for example, a logic low signal) to the controller 124, and the second confirmation signal may indicate Wi-Fi -Fi circuit 140 does not receive any Wi-Fi packets.

In step 320, the controller 124 may determine whether the Wi-Fi circuit 140 is receiving a Wi-Fi packet according to the confirmation signal (for example, the first confirmation signal or the second confirmation signal). When the controller 124 obtains the first confirmation signal, go to step 330; otherwise (for example, the controller 124 obtains the second confirmation signal), go to step 350 for sending the BT packet BT_TX(x) normally.

In step 330, the controller 124 may determine whether the period of the BT transmission delay of the BT packet BT_TX(x) reaches a predetermined threshold (for example, the aforementioned predetermined upper limit). When the BT transmission delay period of the BT packet BT_TX(x) reaches the predetermined threshold (for example, in the case of the BT packet BT_TX2 in the BT communication mechanism S_BT2 shown in Figure 2), go to step 350 for sending BT normally Packet BT_TX(x); otherwise, go to step 340 for inserting at least one idle BT time slot pair before sending the BT packet BT_TX(x).

In step 340, the controller 124 may insert at least one idle BT time slot pair before the BT circuit 120 sends the BT packet BT_TX(x) to generate a period of BT transmission delay (for example, the BT communication mechanism S_BT1 shown in Figure 2 The BT packet BT_TX1 described together is transferred from the 3rd BT time slot to the 7th BT time slot).

In step 350, the controller 124 may allow the BT circuit 120 (for example, the transmitter in the BT transceiver 122) to send the BT packet BT_TX(x) normally, for example, start sending the BT packet BT_TX(x) in its current BT time slot (For example, any of the BT packets BT_TX3 and BT_TX4 shown in the BT communication mechanism S_BT2 shown in Figure 2).

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the at least one idle BT time slot pair is inserted in response to the first confirmation signal to generate a period of BT transmission delay before the BT circuit 120 transmits the BT packet (for example, the additional period of the aforementioned BT transmission delay) The operation of may correspond to a partial path from step 320 to step 330 and then to step 340, but the present invention is not limited to this. For another example, as shown in FIG. 3, in response to the BT transmission delay time reaching a predetermined threshold (for example, the above-mentioned predetermined upper limit), allowing the BT circuit 120 to normally transmit BT packets without further delay may correspond to the entry from step 330 The partial path of step 350, however, the present invention is not limited to this. For another example, as shown in FIG. 3, the operation of allowing the BT circuit 120 to normally send BT packets in response to the second confirmation signal may correspond to a partial path from step 320 to step 350, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Figure 4 shows some curves indicating the performance improvement due to the use of this method. In Figure 4, the horizontal axis uses dBm as the unit to indicate the Wi-Fi Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and the vertical axis uses the mega bit per second (Mbps) as the unit to indicate Wi-Fi. -Fi throughput. The curve corresponding to the legend of "Wi-Fi only" can indicate a Wi-Fi circuit (such as the Wi-Fi circuit 140 shown in Figure 1) without any BT interference (for example, no BT packet transmission) Communication performance. The curve corresponding to the legend of “Before” can indicate that the method of BT transmission management has not been opened (for example, BT transmission management can be temporarily disabled) and the BT circuit is sending BT packets when the BT circuit (such as BT circuit 120) has not yet been opened. -The communication performance of the Fi circuit (such as the Wi-Fi circuit 140 shown in Figure 1). The curve corresponding to the legend of "After" may indicate that the Wi-Fi circuit (such as the Wi-Fi circuit shown in Figure 1) is performing the method of BT transmission management when the BT circuit (such as BT circuit 120) is sending BT packets. -Fi circuit 140) communication performance. As shown in Figure 4, the method for performing BT transmission management can greatly reduce the throughput degradation of Wi-Fi circuit 140 due to BT interference from BT circuit 120, and can improve the coexistence of BT and Wi-Fi communication The overall performance.

In summary, the method of the present invention can insert additional free BT time slots to prevent BT transmission from interfering with the operation of receiving Wi-Fi packets. In addition, the operation of inserting additional free BT time slots is restricted by an upper limit to prevent side effects caused by free BT transmission. As a result, the method of the present invention with limited free BT slot insertion can solve the related technical problems without introducing any side effects or is unlikely to introduce side effects.

The various aspects of the devices and technologies described herein can be used individually, in combination, or in various arrangements not specifically discussed in the embodiments described in the foregoing description, and therefore are not limited to limiting their applications to the foregoing The details of the components and arrangements or the details shown in the drawings. For example, aspects described in one embodiment may be combined with aspects described in other embodiments in any manner.

In some embodiments, the terms "approximately", "approximately" and "approximately" may be used to indicate a range of less than ±10% of the target value and may include the target value. For example: less than ±5% of the target value, less than ±1% of the target value.

The use of ordinal terms such as "first", "second", "third", etc. in the scope of patent application to modify the elements of the scope of patent application does not imply any priority or order, but is only used as a label to have a specific One element of the patent application of the name is distinguished from the patent application of another element with the same name.

Although the present invention is disclosed as above in preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention The scope of protection of an invention shall be determined by the scope of the patent application. The foregoing descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

10‧‧‧Electronic equipment 120‧‧‧BT circuit 122‧‧‧BT Transceiver 124‧‧‧controller 140‧‧‧Wi-Fi circuit 142‧‧‧Wi-Fi Transceiver 310, 320, 330, 340, 350‧‧‧ steps

Figure 1 shows a diagram of an electronic device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 shows some details of the BT transmission management performed by the controller 124 shown in Fig. 1 on the BT packets BT_TX1, BT_TX2, BT_TX3 and BT_TX4 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method for performing BT transmission management according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 shows some curves indicating the performance improvement due to the use of this method.

310, 320, 330, 340, 350‧‧‧ steps

Claims (10)

A method for performing Bluetooth transmission management, including: Before controlling the Bluetooth circuit to send the Bluetooth packet, obtain a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein the confirmation signal indicates whether the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving the Wi-Fi packet; and According to the confirmation signal, it is determined whether to insert at least one idle Bluetooth time slot pair before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet. The method described in item 1 of the scope of patent application also includes: In response to the confirmation signal indicating that the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving the Wi-Fi packet, the at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots is inserted to generate a period of Bluetooth transmission delay before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet. The method described in item 2 of the scope of patent application also includes: In response to the period of the Bluetooth transmission delay reaching a predetermined threshold, the Bluetooth circuit is allowed to normally send Bluetooth packets without further delay. The method described in item 1 of the scope of patent application also includes: In response to the confirmation signal indicating that the Wi-Fi circuit has not received any Wi-Fi packet, the Bluetooth circuit is allowed to send the Bluetooth packet normally. The method according to the first item of the scope of patent application, wherein the Bluetooth circuit complies with the Bluetooth basic rate/enhanced data rate protocol. The method described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the Bluetooth circuit complies with the Bluetooth low energy protocol. A Bluetooth circuit includes: a controller, coupled to a Wi-Fi circuit, wherein: Before controlling the Bluetooth circuit to send the Bluetooth packet, the controller in the Bluetooth circuit obtains a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein the confirmation signal indicates whether the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving the Wi-Fi packet; and According to the confirmation signal, the controller determines whether to insert at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots before the Bluetooth circuit sends a Bluetooth packet. The Bluetooth circuit as described in item 7 of the scope of patent application, in which: When the confirmation signal indicates that the Wi-Fi circuit is receiving a Wi-Fi packet, the controller inserts the at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet to generate a Bluetooth transmission delay period ;with When the confirmation signal indicates that the Wi-Fi circuit has not received any Wi-Fi packets, the controller allows the Bluetooth circuit to normally send Bluetooth packets. The Bluetooth circuit according to item 8 of the scope of patent application, wherein when the period of the Bluetooth transmission delay reaches a predetermined threshold, the controller allows the Bluetooth circuit to normally send Bluetooth packets without further delay. An electronic device including: Wi-Fi circuits to perform Wi-Fi communication; and A Bluetooth circuit, coupled to the Wi-Fi circuit, for performing Bluetooth communication, wherein the Bluetooth circuit includes: A controller, coupled to the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein: before controlling the Bluetooth circuit to send a Bluetooth packet, the controller obtains a confirmation signal from the Wi-Fi circuit, wherein the confirmation signal indicates the Wi-Fi Whether the Fi circuit is receiving a Wi-Fi packet; and according to the confirmation signal, the controller determines whether to insert at least one pair of idle Bluetooth time slots before the Bluetooth circuit sends the Bluetooth packet.

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